The Notre Dame Baseball team is on a bit of a roll right now, and the series sweep of Oakland over the weekend put the Irish winning streak at 8 with just 4 games to go in the regular season (Dayton and a 3 game series VS Pitt).
Notre Dame Baseball: Irish Sweep Golden Grizzlies
SOUTH BEND, Ind. – The Notre Dame baseball team secured the series sweep with a 9-3 win over Oakland on Sunday in the team’s final home series of the regular season.
The Irish turned a double play to end the top of the first
unscathed. Drew Berkland drew a lead-off walk, and Bino Watters hit a double to center field to put two runners into scoring position. A fielder’s choice by Mark Quatrani drove in Berkland for the first run of the game. Noah Coy and Jayce Lee each drew a walk. Dylan Passo lofted a sacrifice fly to right field to drive in Watters. A walk by Andrew Graham loaded the bases again, and Mason Barth was hit by a pitch to drive in another run for the 3-0 lead through one complete.
The Golden Grizzlies plated a run in the top of the second to make it a 3-1 game.
Drew Berkland led off the bottom of the second with a double down the left field line. Bino Watters added a double to right field as Berkland came around to score.
Caden Crowell dialed up a strikeout, induced a line-out to Noah Coy and got another strikeout to retire the side in order in the top of the third.
Andrew Graham and Mason Barth each drew a walk, and Drew Berkland added a two-out walk to load the bases. Bino Watters hit another double – this time a ground-rule double – to plate Graham and Barth for a 6-1 advantage. Mark Quatrani added a walk to load the bases again, and Noah Coy drew a full-count walk to plate Berkland to make it 7-1.
Crowell posted his second three-up, three-down inning in the top of the fourth with a pair of strikeouts and a pop up.
Oakland plated a pair in the top of the fifth to make it a 7-3 game. The Golden Grizzlies threatened in the top of the sixth before Xavier Hirsch came in to record a strikeout to force the visitors into stranding runners on first and second.
In the bottom of the seventh, Drew Berkland gave the Irish a jolt with a two-out solo home run to left field to make it 8-3. Xavier Hirsch struck out a pair and hung a zero on the scoreboard in the top of the eighth.
Dylan Passo hit a two-out single, and Shane Miranda hit a pinch-hit single to keep the inning going. Mason Barth drew a walk, and a balk brought Passo in to score for the 9-3 lead.
Noah Rooney then came in and closed out the win by retiring the side in order to preserve the 9-3 victory.
Bino Watters went 3-for-4 at the plate with three doubles, three RBI and a run. Drew Berkland was 2-for-2 with a home run, a double, three walks, an RBI and four runs. Noah Coy added a 2-for-3 effort with a double, an RBI and a run. Dylan Passo tallied a hit, a run and an RBI. Shane Miranda posted a hit, and Andrew Graham and Mason Barth each scored once. As a team, the Irish drew 11 walks in the win with Coy, Graham and Barth each walking twice.
DJ Helwig went 2.0 in his third start of the year with a strikeout. Caden Crowell went 2.0 and did not allow a hit or a walk while striking out four and earning the win in relief. Chase Van Ameyde picked up a strikeout, and Oisin Lee went 1.1 on the hill. Xavier Hirsch posted 2.1 innings of shutout work with four strikeouts. Noah Rooney closed out the final 1.0 on the mound and struck out one while facing the minimum.
The Irish (27-20) travel to Ohio to face Dayton on Tuesday at Prasco Park. The game is set to start at 6:00 p.m. ET.
